Todd & Joe Have Issues 09/07/17: Starman #11
Things are tough in comics. And by “things” I mean tropes. The things we take for granted in comics, that are done by everyone, hence being done by everyone, it is tough to make those tropes seem new and fresh. That leads us to Starman #11 by James Robinson and Matthew Smith.
A buffer issue, a one off issue can feel unimportant, skippable even. However, one of the storytelling tools Robinson would use in Starman was ‘the Shade’s Journal.’ The Shade, aka Richard Swift, was a longtime Starman adversary. And by longtime, I mean dating back to the Golden Age Starman, Ted Knight. Did I say adversary? Well, this story is the time Shade teamed with members of the Justice Society to take on a bigger foe, Ragdoll.
DC comics at this time and Starman especially, was all about legacy. One hero passing the mantle from one person to another, this story, however, was at least for me, the first instance I read of a legacy villain.
Spoilers, as this iteration of Ragdoll, does meet an untimely demise at the end of the issue, but this is only the beginning of the troubles that name will bring to all the citizens of Opal City.
Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our list.
I always looked forward to these singles. Ragdoll was freaky!